(Author's Note : Here I am with another chappy! WOOHOO! That's sorta of surprising since I'm a very slow writer. Well, just wanted to say that there will be some...lets say...lovey-dovey parts soon ahead so if you hate that kinda stuff I recommend you turn back lest you be sickened with the cornyness of it all.....even though I rather enjoy it if I do say so myelf! ^_^
Might as well go ahead and add that I STILL don't own Dante, anything else DMC, or Arson. Arson belongs to Bustahead, who gave me permission to use him in my horribly-bad ficcy. =P Oh yes, and for some shameless advertising! Go visit my dear friend's bio and read her stories! Her pen name is Alcapacien/Quiggles. You know I'll love you if you do! Please, if your going to read my story take a couple of extra seconds and review! Hmm....anything else I need to add...? Oh yes! One more thing. If you go to fictionpress.net and search for the pen name Arcane Seraphim you can go and read an original story of mine. ((Even though there's only one chappy so far)) Review that too if your gonna waste time reading it. ^_^ Oh, and thanks to all reviews so far! Now please, read on!)
Chapter Fifteen : Chaos Ensues
"MY EFFING FOOT!" A cry erupted from the kitchen as Xy sat on the couch, flicking through the channels. Sighing, she got up only to start chuckling. It seems her toaster had found its way to Dante's foot.
"Try to be more careful about dropping my toaster, alright? I need it to make toast." She tried hiding her face with a hand so he didn't see her chuckling and get even more angry.
"I DIDN'T DROP THE DAMN THING, IT FELL ON MY FOOT!"
"Ok.....whatever." She replied with a delightful grin, picking up the dented toaster and placing it on the counter again. "And please if you will, keep your voice DOWN."
'What am I doing here...? I don't belong....I don't deserve all this hospitality. I don't deserve this love....and care. A curse should never get these things....a curse should be dealt with...' I could only shake my head sadly as the comforting hand was placed on my back. And yet I couldn't help but flinch at it. What was I doing here, being taken care of like this? 'Only a curse....a curse to be dealt with!' a voice echoed in my head. The familiarity of it made fear grip my heart. I could only let out a pitiful "Mother..." before I couldn't stand it any longer. I needed to be alone! Alone...like a curse should be! My senses pricked up as I heard a laugh from a memory. 'Dante?' I shook my head to answer my own question. 'Why would he come here...? ....not for me.' I had to get out of here! I couldn't stand it any longer!
Arson sprung up from the bed, turning to look at Xy's confused mom. He bowed slightly and muttered a quick "Thanks" before running downstairs. He focused his attention on the ground as he headed out of the normal-looking house. Looking back once, he sighed pitifully and walked down the road alone.....like a curse should be.
Hearing the door slam, Xy turned to see the front door slightly ajar, with a soft breeze wafting in. Thinking she had defintly locked it, she closed it without a second thought. Xy's mom came down at the moment, looking throughly perplexed. "What was all that crashing and screaming about?" she asked sincerly, placing her usual smile on her face.
"Uhh....mom....meet...uhm...our new neighbor?" Xy said thinking on her feet, as Dante just happened to waltz in the room at the moment.
"Well, hello!" her mom said cheerfully, grinning and shaking Dante's hand, who was putting a suave face on.
"Hello um....?"
"Oh! You can call me Darlia. And you are?"
"Dante Sparda."
"Welcome to the neighborhood, Mr.Sparda! I'm sure you'll love it here." she smiled more broadly, even bowing a little.
"Please, call me Dante. Your daughter was just so politely offering me some refreshments...I've been touring the new town you see."
Darlia ruffeled Xy's hair. "That's so nice of her! Please help yourself to anything while your here. Oh, yes! I almost forgot. Xyphos, your friend left just a bit ago. He didn't so where he went....but I assumed he had gone back home."
Dante's eyes widened as he heard the news. He quickly grabbed his sword, which he had leaned next to the front door. He ran outside in a hurry, yelling "ARSON!" loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.
"Did he just say arson?" Darlia asked, throughly confused.
Xy had to keep from laughing...she understood what her mom was thinking. "It's...um....his nickname mom! Everyone calls him that."
Alcapacien happened at this point to come downstairs, stretching and yawning. "What's all the commotion?"
"Seems Arson left. We dunno where he went. I'm going to go help Dante look for him though....can you stay here?"
"Sure.....I wasn't planning on leaving anyways. Not when I have a nice bed to sleep on!" Alca yawned, smiling.
Xy pat Alca on the shoulder as she made her way out. "Thanks, and...uh...tell my mom...something." she added in a whisper. With that, she left the house and caught up to Dante. "WHERE THE EFF ARE YOU ARSON?!" he was calling out as she ran up.
"Where do you think he went? He told me himself he's never been here before." 'He sure seems a bit agitated...' she thought in silence.
"I don't know......"
"Well....he couldn't have gotten far. It's really too late and dark to go anywhere far." she said as Dante paused, and closed his eyes in concentration. After a split second he opened them and again and smiled.
"Found him." He marched forward quickly, turning to look back at her as she followed. "You should go back. I can find him by myself."
Xy just shook her head impatiently. "Nope. I'm coming too."
He frowned as he was known often to do. "No...your not. Why do you want to come so badly anyways? He is of no concern to you."
"I'm worried about him, alright?" she told him hesitantly. "I mean...he's out here in the dark and doesn't know his way around."
He shrugged simply. "He'll be fine." His tone was not very comforting. "Has he seemed....depressed lately?"
Xy was shocked a bit by the sudden question. He actually sounded a bit....worried. "Well...yeah. He looked a bit down in the dumps after he woke up a bit earlier."
"Why did he wake up? He should have been asleep 'till morning."
She shrugged. "I dunno why. He sorta of...I dunno...threw a fit? He was tossing and screaming a lot."
Dante frowned slightly. "Oh....really?"
She nodded as she went on. "He kept saying stuff like "No...please.." as if he was talking to someone. Know anything about it?"
"I see...." he looked slightly concerned, confirming Xy's suspicions. "It was a nightmare. Not a fit. And the person he was "talking" to....it was his mother."
"Oh.....I think I understand what your talking about."
He paused again to alter his course as he follows Arson's taint. "He's a troubled kid. He's got all kinds of problems. He's afraid of being left alone sometimes. I think perhaps because he's afraid that she'll rise up from the dead showhow and kill him or something...."
She nodded in acknowledgement. "He told me a little...about his mother."
Dante looked at her sharply in surprise, then looked serious. "He did? Normally he never mentions his family....Don't talk to him about it. Don't ask what he dreamt about. He doesn't like talking to people.
She could only nod and note the seriousness of his voice. "I wasn't going to.....he didn't seem too eager to talk about it anyways, storming out like that." They kept walking in silence, but Dante broke it with a faint "Aha!". He pointed ahead.
"He's up there in that park, sitting on a bench." She sighed with relief....she couldn't believe how worried she had gotten. She ran up ahead to see Arson alone, sitting cross legged staring at the ground absently. Xyphos called out to him happily.
"Arson! You alright?"
He didn't even look up when she called out. "Please.....leave me alone... I just need to be left alone..."
Dante came up behind Xy, who frowned and looked taken aback. "Damned kid.....you've got to pull yourself together already."
Xy fidgeted as she felt out-of-place, and walked off a little ways away, but not before she had seen a slow tear trickle down Arson's face. She walked just out of earshot, and sat on the ground heavily. She wanted to help him...but he didn't want it. She respected his wish of wanting to be alone.
Arson curled up where he sat and hid his face in his knees, his shoulders jerking. Xy could hear Dante yelling loud enough to let her know he was being way too harsh to Arson. She sighed and fiddled with the grass blades. "So much has happened lately..." she flinched as Dante began a whole new fit of yelling. "Wonder why he's so mad..... and damn... he yells LOUD..."
Dante ended his triade soon enough and stalked over to her, looking surprised and baffled. "He says he wants you...."
"Thought he wanted to be alone?"
"Apparently not..." he said, continuing to look confused.
"Well....alright." she said, brushing herself off and walking over to Arson, looking and feeling as confused as Dante. Arson was sobbing into his knees, desperately trying to hide his tears and grief. Xy sat next to him, confused but becoming troubled. "Feeling any better?" She knew perfectly he was becoming broken....she was hoping to fix that. No one had ever had the effect on her that he had, and she felt he needed help more then anything else. Xy felt obligated to give him what he needed.
He didn't look up, nor did she want him to. She could barely contain herself when he was so distressed like this. "I wish I'd die....I just wish I could die..."
She looked at his back with aching pity and concern. "And...why is that?" He suddenly froze at the question, and looked up into her eyes. His usually gleeful brown eyes had become sunken and empty. No more light gleamed in them as it had once before.
"My nightmares....they're all the same...becoming clearer and clearer each and every time...m..my mother..." he stopped again, and his now dull eyes welled up with tears. Xy wrapped a comforting arm around his back. "It's so wierd..." she started, mostly talking to herself, "I've never dreamt about my brother...even the day after he died. But you've had these dreams....no, nightmares....for a long time it seems." Arson turned to her and started to softly sob into her shoulder. She was startled by the sudden movement, but then wrapped both arms around him, not saying anything but letting him release his long built-up emotions. She wished there was some way to cheer him up, and soon. He spoke up again, his voice slightly muffled by her shirt. "I just...hate my life so much...all of this grief...and fear..."
"Come on Arson....it can't be all that bad, can it?"
"You...you don't know what it's like...what she did to me... I didn't tell you about the knife, did I?" Xyphos didn't answer, but only shook her head. "She stabbed me...in my stomach..."
Xy flinched at the thought. "It's hard to believe a mother could do this to their own child....unbelieveable..."
A new wave of sobbing came over him as he struggled with the memory. "It's true....I still have the scar...She wanted me to die...I turned into a demon that day....it still scares me when I do that." He shuddered miserably, and took a deep breath. "She wanted to kill me...and she would have too....But what if she's still out there? Still alive? Sometimes.....sometimes I can still feel her breathing down my neck..." Xy nuzzled against him, trying to be a source of comfort. "God.....I wish I could die.." he continued, still sobbing shamelessly against her. "...there's nothing left for me here.."
"Don't say that Arson....you know it's not true."
He looked up at her, his vision blinded by tears. "What is there for me here? Nothing but sorrow and pain...I'm..I'm a curse and incapable of anything else...." He lowered his head back down, as if the grief was a physical weight on him.
"Your not a curse! I don't know where you got that idea. Think of all the people who would be sad if you died..." she faltered, trying to find the right words. "I...I would..."
It happened so fast that neither of them knew how it happened. Arson had mumbled a faint "Xy..." before he found his lips touching her own as they kissed on that bench in the L.A. state park. It seemed all went silent as it happened, and neither seemed to not be enjoying their own romantic moment.
Might as well go ahead and add that I STILL don't own Dante, anything else DMC, or Arson. Arson belongs to Bustahead, who gave me permission to use him in my horribly-bad ficcy. =P Oh yes, and for some shameless advertising! Go visit my dear friend's bio and read her stories! Her pen name is Alcapacien/Quiggles. You know I'll love you if you do! Please, if your going to read my story take a couple of extra seconds and review! Hmm....anything else I need to add...? Oh yes! One more thing. If you go to fictionpress.net and search for the pen name Arcane Seraphim you can go and read an original story of mine. ((Even though there's only one chappy so far)) Review that too if your gonna waste time reading it. ^_^ Oh, and thanks to all reviews so far! Now please, read on!)
Chapter Fifteen : Chaos Ensues
"MY EFFING FOOT!" A cry erupted from the kitchen as Xy sat on the couch, flicking through the channels. Sighing, she got up only to start chuckling. It seems her toaster had found its way to Dante's foot.
"Try to be more careful about dropping my toaster, alright? I need it to make toast." She tried hiding her face with a hand so he didn't see her chuckling and get even more angry.
"I DIDN'T DROP THE DAMN THING, IT FELL ON MY FOOT!"
"Ok.....whatever." She replied with a delightful grin, picking up the dented toaster and placing it on the counter again. "And please if you will, keep your voice DOWN."
'What am I doing here...? I don't belong....I don't deserve all this hospitality. I don't deserve this love....and care. A curse should never get these things....a curse should be dealt with...' I could only shake my head sadly as the comforting hand was placed on my back. And yet I couldn't help but flinch at it. What was I doing here, being taken care of like this? 'Only a curse....a curse to be dealt with!' a voice echoed in my head. The familiarity of it made fear grip my heart. I could only let out a pitiful "Mother..." before I couldn't stand it any longer. I needed to be alone! Alone...like a curse should be! My senses pricked up as I heard a laugh from a memory. 'Dante?' I shook my head to answer my own question. 'Why would he come here...? ....not for me.' I had to get out of here! I couldn't stand it any longer!
Arson sprung up from the bed, turning to look at Xy's confused mom. He bowed slightly and muttered a quick "Thanks" before running downstairs. He focused his attention on the ground as he headed out of the normal-looking house. Looking back once, he sighed pitifully and walked down the road alone.....like a curse should be.
Hearing the door slam, Xy turned to see the front door slightly ajar, with a soft breeze wafting in. Thinking she had defintly locked it, she closed it without a second thought. Xy's mom came down at the moment, looking throughly perplexed. "What was all that crashing and screaming about?" she asked sincerly, placing her usual smile on her face.
"Uhh....mom....meet...uhm...our new neighbor?" Xy said thinking on her feet, as Dante just happened to waltz in the room at the moment.
"Well, hello!" her mom said cheerfully, grinning and shaking Dante's hand, who was putting a suave face on.
"Hello um....?"
"Oh! You can call me Darlia. And you are?"
"Dante Sparda."
"Welcome to the neighborhood, Mr.Sparda! I'm sure you'll love it here." she smiled more broadly, even bowing a little.
"Please, call me Dante. Your daughter was just so politely offering me some refreshments...I've been touring the new town you see."
Darlia ruffeled Xy's hair. "That's so nice of her! Please help yourself to anything while your here. Oh, yes! I almost forgot. Xyphos, your friend left just a bit ago. He didn't so where he went....but I assumed he had gone back home."
Dante's eyes widened as he heard the news. He quickly grabbed his sword, which he had leaned next to the front door. He ran outside in a hurry, yelling "ARSON!" loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.
"Did he just say arson?" Darlia asked, throughly confused.
Xy had to keep from laughing...she understood what her mom was thinking. "It's...um....his nickname mom! Everyone calls him that."
Alcapacien happened at this point to come downstairs, stretching and yawning. "What's all the commotion?"
"Seems Arson left. We dunno where he went. I'm going to go help Dante look for him though....can you stay here?"
"Sure.....I wasn't planning on leaving anyways. Not when I have a nice bed to sleep on!" Alca yawned, smiling.
Xy pat Alca on the shoulder as she made her way out. "Thanks, and...uh...tell my mom...something." she added in a whisper. With that, she left the house and caught up to Dante. "WHERE THE EFF ARE YOU ARSON?!" he was calling out as she ran up.
"Where do you think he went? He told me himself he's never been here before." 'He sure seems a bit agitated...' she thought in silence.
"I don't know......"
"Well....he couldn't have gotten far. It's really too late and dark to go anywhere far." she said as Dante paused, and closed his eyes in concentration. After a split second he opened them and again and smiled.
"Found him." He marched forward quickly, turning to look back at her as she followed. "You should go back. I can find him by myself."
Xy just shook her head impatiently. "Nope. I'm coming too."
He frowned as he was known often to do. "No...your not. Why do you want to come so badly anyways? He is of no concern to you."
"I'm worried about him, alright?" she told him hesitantly. "I mean...he's out here in the dark and doesn't know his way around."
He shrugged simply. "He'll be fine." His tone was not very comforting. "Has he seemed....depressed lately?"
Xy was shocked a bit by the sudden question. He actually sounded a bit....worried. "Well...yeah. He looked a bit down in the dumps after he woke up a bit earlier."
"Why did he wake up? He should have been asleep 'till morning."
She shrugged. "I dunno why. He sorta of...I dunno...threw a fit? He was tossing and screaming a lot."
Dante frowned slightly. "Oh....really?"
She nodded as she went on. "He kept saying stuff like "No...please.." as if he was talking to someone. Know anything about it?"
"I see...." he looked slightly concerned, confirming Xy's suspicions. "It was a nightmare. Not a fit. And the person he was "talking" to....it was his mother."
"Oh.....I think I understand what your talking about."
He paused again to alter his course as he follows Arson's taint. "He's a troubled kid. He's got all kinds of problems. He's afraid of being left alone sometimes. I think perhaps because he's afraid that she'll rise up from the dead showhow and kill him or something...."
She nodded in acknowledgement. "He told me a little...about his mother."
Dante looked at her sharply in surprise, then looked serious. "He did? Normally he never mentions his family....Don't talk to him about it. Don't ask what he dreamt about. He doesn't like talking to people.
She could only nod and note the seriousness of his voice. "I wasn't going to.....he didn't seem too eager to talk about it anyways, storming out like that." They kept walking in silence, but Dante broke it with a faint "Aha!". He pointed ahead.
"He's up there in that park, sitting on a bench." She sighed with relief....she couldn't believe how worried she had gotten. She ran up ahead to see Arson alone, sitting cross legged staring at the ground absently. Xyphos called out to him happily.
"Arson! You alright?"
He didn't even look up when she called out. "Please.....leave me alone... I just need to be left alone..."
Dante came up behind Xy, who frowned and looked taken aback. "Damned kid.....you've got to pull yourself together already."
Xy fidgeted as she felt out-of-place, and walked off a little ways away, but not before she had seen a slow tear trickle down Arson's face. She walked just out of earshot, and sat on the ground heavily. She wanted to help him...but he didn't want it. She respected his wish of wanting to be alone.
Arson curled up where he sat and hid his face in his knees, his shoulders jerking. Xy could hear Dante yelling loud enough to let her know he was being way too harsh to Arson. She sighed and fiddled with the grass blades. "So much has happened lately..." she flinched as Dante began a whole new fit of yelling. "Wonder why he's so mad..... and damn... he yells LOUD..."
Dante ended his triade soon enough and stalked over to her, looking surprised and baffled. "He says he wants you...."
"Thought he wanted to be alone?"
"Apparently not..." he said, continuing to look confused.
"Well....alright." she said, brushing herself off and walking over to Arson, looking and feeling as confused as Dante. Arson was sobbing into his knees, desperately trying to hide his tears and grief. Xy sat next to him, confused but becoming troubled. "Feeling any better?" She knew perfectly he was becoming broken....she was hoping to fix that. No one had ever had the effect on her that he had, and she felt he needed help more then anything else. Xy felt obligated to give him what he needed.
He didn't look up, nor did she want him to. She could barely contain herself when he was so distressed like this. "I wish I'd die....I just wish I could die..."
She looked at his back with aching pity and concern. "And...why is that?" He suddenly froze at the question, and looked up into her eyes. His usually gleeful brown eyes had become sunken and empty. No more light gleamed in them as it had once before.
"My nightmares....they're all the same...becoming clearer and clearer each and every time...m..my mother..." he stopped again, and his now dull eyes welled up with tears. Xy wrapped a comforting arm around his back. "It's so wierd..." she started, mostly talking to herself, "I've never dreamt about my brother...even the day after he died. But you've had these dreams....no, nightmares....for a long time it seems." Arson turned to her and started to softly sob into her shoulder. She was startled by the sudden movement, but then wrapped both arms around him, not saying anything but letting him release his long built-up emotions. She wished there was some way to cheer him up, and soon. He spoke up again, his voice slightly muffled by her shirt. "I just...hate my life so much...all of this grief...and fear..."
"Come on Arson....it can't be all that bad, can it?"
"You...you don't know what it's like...what she did to me... I didn't tell you about the knife, did I?" Xyphos didn't answer, but only shook her head. "She stabbed me...in my stomach..."
Xy flinched at the thought. "It's hard to believe a mother could do this to their own child....unbelieveable..."
A new wave of sobbing came over him as he struggled with the memory. "It's true....I still have the scar...She wanted me to die...I turned into a demon that day....it still scares me when I do that." He shuddered miserably, and took a deep breath. "She wanted to kill me...and she would have too....But what if she's still out there? Still alive? Sometimes.....sometimes I can still feel her breathing down my neck..." Xy nuzzled against him, trying to be a source of comfort. "God.....I wish I could die.." he continued, still sobbing shamelessly against her. "...there's nothing left for me here.."
"Don't say that Arson....you know it's not true."
He looked up at her, his vision blinded by tears. "What is there for me here? Nothing but sorrow and pain...I'm..I'm a curse and incapable of anything else...." He lowered his head back down, as if the grief was a physical weight on him.
"Your not a curse! I don't know where you got that idea. Think of all the people who would be sad if you died..." she faltered, trying to find the right words. "I...I would..."
It happened so fast that neither of them knew how it happened. Arson had mumbled a faint "Xy..." before he found his lips touching her own as they kissed on that bench in the L.A. state park. It seemed all went silent as it happened, and neither seemed to not be enjoying their own romantic moment.